The Knightbridge Professorship of Philosophy is the senior professorship in philosophy at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

. There have been 22 Knightbridge professors, the incumbent being

Rae Langton Rae Helen Langton, FBA (born 14 February 1961) is an Australian-British professor of philosophy. She is currently the Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. She has published widely on Immanuel Kant's philosophy, ...

. One of the oldest professorships in Cambridge, the chair was founded in 1683 by John Knightbridge (1619/20–1677), a clergyman and Fellow of

Peterhouse Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...

. Knightbridge gave money for its foundation on his death in 1677. The terms of his will required the Professor to be a Doctor or Bachelor of Divinity; to be aged fifty or older; and to give five lectures in Latin each term, providing a written copy of these lectures to the Vice Chancellor. If the Professor did not give the required five lectures without a good reason, then their maintenance (£50 per annum) could be withdrawn. The Will also laid out that the Professor would be chosen by election by the Regius and the

Lady Margaret's Professors of Divinity The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...

, the Master of Peterhouse and the

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of Cambridge, with the latter having the casting vote. This has given rise to a story that in 1813 Francis Barnes was able to secure his own election to the Professorship, because he was Master of Peterhouse as well as Vice-Chancellor. However, the story is almost certainly apocryphal since Barnes was not Vice-Chancellor at the time. The trustees of Knightbridge's Will were unable to find a suitable person to be elected to the Professorship according to these terms. They therefore appealed to the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

to relax and modify the original restrictions. A decree was obtained in 18 July 1682, allowing the Professor to be aged forty or older, and to deliver four lectures in each term rather than five. In 1683 the first election to the chair took place, and Thomas Smoult of St John's College was appointed, more than five years after Knightbridge's death. Smoult further endowed the Professorship with a bequest upon his death in 1707, leaving £300 to purchase land so that the rents could be used to maintain the Knightbridge Professor. This increased the stipend to around £70 per annum. The requirements for the Professor regarding their age and the number of lectures that they were required to deliver, were repealed in 1861. In 1882, the requirement that the post holder should be a Doctor or Bachelor of Divinity was also repealed. It is unlikely that any of the holders of the Knightbridge Professorship gave the required lectures until the nineteenth century.

William Whewell William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved ...

who was appointed to the Professorship in 1838, gave evidence to the University Commission stating that he was not aware that any predecessor to the post had lectured. Originally entitled the "Professorship of Moral Theology or Casuisticall Divinity", with the holder often known as simply the "Professor of Casuistry", it was subsequently designated the Professorship of Moral Theology, Casuistical Divinity, and Moral Philosophy. In 1896 it became the Professorship of Moral Philosophy. The scope of the professorship was officially broadened from merely moral to general philosophy under its present name in 1965.

Knightbridge Professors

* Thomas Smoult (1683) *

John Colbatch John Colbatch (1664–11 February 1748), sometimes Colbach, was an English churchman and academic, professor of moral philosophy at Cambridge. Drawn into the long legal struggle between Richard Bentley and the fellowship of Trinity College, Cambr ...

(1707) *

Richard Walker Richard Walker, Rick, Ricky, or Dick Walker may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Walker (baritone) (1897–1989), English singer and actor Law and politics * Richard Walker (MP) (1784–1855), British Member of Parliament for Bury, 1832 ...

(1744) *

Edmund Law Edmund Law (6 June 1703 – 14 August 1787) was a priest in the Church of England. He served as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, as Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy in the University of Cambridge from 1764 to 1769, and as bishop of Carlisl ...

(1764)

Law, Edmund (1703-1787), by George Romney, 1781

* Robert Plumptre (1769) *

George Borlase George Borlase (1743 – 7 November 1809) was an English churchman, Registrary and Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Life and career George Borlase was born 1743 in Cornwall. He was the sixth son of Walter ...

(1788) * Robert Towerson Cory (1809) * Francis Barnes (1813) *

(1838) *

John Grote John Grote (5 May 1813, Beckenham – 21 August 1866, Trumpington, Cambridgeshire) was an English moral philosopher and Anglican clergyman. Life and career The son of a banker, John Grote was younger brother to the historian, philosopher and ...

(1855) *

F. D. Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War, interest in Maurice has expanded."Fre ...

(1866) *

Thomas Rawson Birks Thomas Rawson Birks (28 September 1810 – 19 July 1883) was an English theologian and controversialist, who figured in the debate to try to resolve theology and science. He rose to be Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University ...

(1872) *

Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected i ...

(1883)

* W.R. Sorley (1900) *

C. D. Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an English people, English epistemology, epistemologist, history of philosophy, historian of philosophy, philosophy of science, philosopher of sc ...

(1933)

* Richard Bevan Braithwaite (1953) *

Bernard Williams Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams, FBA (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English moral philosopher. His publications include ''Problems of the Self'' (1973), ''Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy'' (1985), ''Shame and Necessity'' ...

(1967) *

Timothy Smiley Timothy John Smiley FBA (born 13 November 1930) is a British philosopher, appointed Emeritus Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Clare College, Cambridge University. He works primarily in philosophy of mathematics and logic. Life and car ...

(1980) * Edward Craig (1998) *

Quassim Cassam Quassim Cassam, (born 31 January 1961) is professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick. He writes on self-knowledge, perception, epistemic vices and topics in Kantian epistemology. As blurbed for his book, ''Vices of the Mind'' (2019) ...

(2007) *

Tim Crane Timothy Martin Crane (born 17 October 1962) is a British philosopher specialising in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of psychology and metaphysics. His contributions to philosophy include a defence of a non-physical ...

(2009) *

(2017)

References

{{Reflist School of Arts and Humanities, University of Cambridge Professorships in philosophy 1683 establishments in the British Empire